.:: Oceanborn - The UK Nightwish Fanclub ::.

Article by Kirsten

Consisting of the band's first three albums ("Angels Fall First", "Oceanborn", and "Wishmaster"), along with their 2001 EP ("Over the Hills and Far Away", the "Nightwish: 1997 - 2001 Boxset" is a tempting purchase. With it's sub-£30 price tag, and sleek, book-style packaging, this is both an affordable way to acquire most of Nightwish's back catalogue in one go, and a worthy addition to any collection of Nightwish exotica.

It's presented as a hard-backed book, it's covers emblazoned with glossy images of the band, and shineyful gold lettering. Inside, there are four discs, each decorated with a sepia-coloured portrait of part of Tarja Turunen's face (although I personally would rather have the album art on a CD than a picture of the singer's lips...but it's a matter of personal taste), and a booklet of lyrics and pictures. Continuing the "book about Nightwish" theme, this is printed in "chapters", with one per album, and the songs laid out like paragraphs. While it may be that the packaging of an album is secondary to the quality of the songs, one of the chief reasons for buying a boxset is the fancy packaging. Unfortunately, with this one, the otherwise beautiful presentation is marred by a slight error - the lyrics to "Sleepwalker" are printed twice, including once on a CD where the song doesn't feature! It's a fairly minor mistake, but annoying nonetheless.

With its 40-odd songs, there's certain to be something that every fan will enjoy in this collection. From the acoustic tones of "Angels Fall First", to the power metal stylings of "Wishmaster", the boxset covers five years worth of top-notch tunes, from ballads about Lapland ("Lappi") to heavy metal anthems about war ("10th Man Down"). The songs vary in every respect except quality - virtually everything sounds terrific. But, while the "Nightwish: 1997 - 2001" boxset provides three albums and an EP, it includes only a meagre two bonus tracks. While b-sides are often considered sub-standard - the tracks not good enough to put on the album - it's still nice to hear them, and to leave them out of a retrospective like his is inexcusable.

Yet, while this boxset has it's faults - it's errors and omissions - it's still an excellent purchase. This is much cheaper than buying the CDs separately, and arguably more desirable, too. While this is by no means as good as it could have been, it's doubtful that you'll regret buying it. A great way for newbies to get the older albums, and probably an essential for completists with £30 to spare, although - thanks to the lack of b-sides - not really a necessity if you already have most of the albums.